Nightjar Impressions near the Hampshire Hangers

A sunny hike, with added party tricks, in the pretty countryside around East Worldham. Led ably by members of Walk Alton, Clare discovers the beauty of this part of east Hampshire. Every episode in this series has been suggested by a Ramblings listener. Helen Dudley and Ian Fleming from Walk Alton wrote to the programme and invited Clare to discover more about this very active organisation and the national scheme to which it belongs, Walkers Are Welcome. For its small size, a population of around twenty thousand, Alton has a disproportionately large number of walking groups and two walking festivals, all run by committed volunteers. Today’s route is around 7 miles long and starts in the village of East Worldham, two miles east of Alton. They follow the map south, along part of the Hangers Way (hangers are very steep, wooded slopes) to Binswood, an ancient area of woodland managed by the Woodland Trust. Next they head to Shortheath Common, an important area of heathland, before looping back via another part of Binswood and returning to East Worldham via King John’s Hill. Joining them en route is Elinor Newman of the South Downs National Park who discusses a rare habitat known as 'quaking bog', and surprises everyone with her uncanny impressions of both nightjars and beetles. Scroll down on the Radio 4 Ramblings webpage to the 'related links' section for more info. Presenter: Clare Balding Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Karen Gregor